Call of Duty Dev Says Gamers Generally Aren't "Toxic Or Misogynistic"

Michael Condrey, the co-founder of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare developer Sledgehammer Games, has spoken out to describe the community of gamers he knows best as being "healthy, engaged, and thoughtful" people, not "toxic or misogynistic."

"I certainly wouldn't characterize the community of fans I know and had the pleasure to engage with as toxic or misogynistic," Condrey told the BBC. "The community as a whole is very healthy, engaged, and thoughtful and probably like anything anywhere well outside of gaming."

Condrey acknowledged, however, that the video game community--like other major entertainment businesses--is not 100 percent free of controversial and negative behavior. "In the fringes of a lot of areas of society there are examples of people behaving poorly," he said.

With respect to Advanced Warfare, Condrey said there will be a low tolerance for toxic behavior, abusive language, and inappropriate in-game player emblems. "I don't want that around," he said.

If you're thinking about buying Advanced Warfare, you should "come to the game to have fun, come to be social, come to enjoy and build a community and have a positive energy," he said.

Condrey's comments come in the context of the BBC asking him to respond to the "Gamergate" movement, a tough-to-pin-down effort that has been linked to the treatment of women in the video game industry.

For more on Advanced Warfare, check out GameSpot's review.